Badam Doodh Dessert-My Take on Indian Drink

It is amazing how time usually flies by-just like that. One year has gone by and I am so happy here, blogging.

I started RashmisDesiZaika, one year ago with a sweet recipe, which is one of my favorite and bringing back my child hood memories, coconut rose pink burfi. As tradition goes in India that you always share something sweet on special occasion. So you guessed it right, today’s recipe is a sweet one.

I spend a lot of time thinking about this post and what to share. I just didn’t want to share one of the sweets from India. I want to use it as an opportunity to show how far I have come. You know desserts have never been my strength, simply because our sweets are quite complicated and I had very limited knowledge about cakes. I remember it the year 2011 when my family visited us for the first time and I wanted to make something completely different dessert for them. I did my research and decided to make panna cotta. It was for the first time in my life I bought and used gelatin. About how it came out, I will leave you guessing…

Over the years, I have tried to learn about desserts from different cuisines and of course I am still learning. The idea of this recipe is very simple, to use some of the most important ingredients from Indian sweets and to create new dessert, which is not Indian at all.

Badam doodh or almond milk is famous drink from North India and popularly enjoyed warm during winter times. It is sweet drink made by slowly boiling milk, with spices like cardamom and saffron and served warm with sliced almonds and pistachio. So for today’s recipe I used all the spices and nuts used in this drink to create my dessert because these in my opinion are soul of most of our desserts.

So today’s recipe has cardamom bavarois topped with saffron gele, salted almond and pistachio crumb, pistachio mousse, pistachio sponge and black pepper almond tuile. Bavarois is a name of French dessert, which is set with help of gelatin. The base of the dessert is creme anglaise or a custard, which is then lightened by folding in whipped cream, giving it a light and airy texture.

A twist to traditional flavors of badam doodh, the recipe also incorporates saltiness coming from the crumb and spiceness coming from black pepper tuile. I made this dessert first time few weeks ago for some friends who visited us for dinner and they all absolutely loved it!!

So, here is my take on badam doodh…

Ingredients:

For cardamom bavarois

300ml milk

125 ml cream

125 ml cream, whipped

2 cardamom, crushed

3 egg yolks

70g sugar

4 sheets of gelatine

For saffron gel

100ml water

¼ tsp saffron

2 tbsp sugar

1 sheet of gelatin

For salted almond pistachio crumb

25g salted almonds, chopped

25g salted pistachio, chopped

25g caster sugar

25g almond meal

15g unsalted butter

25g plain flour

For pistachio paste

100g unsalted pistachio

For pistachio mousse

50g pistachio paste

50 ml cream, whipped

20g sugar

1-2 tbsp water

For pistachio sponge

40g pistachio paste

1 egg white, whisked

20g sugar

10 g flour

For black pepper almond tuile

1 egg white, whisked

30g butter, softened

20g confectioners sugar

30g all-purpose flour, sifted

¼ tsp black pepper, freshly crushed

Method:

For cardamom bavarois

To make bavarois. Line a tray (20x20cm) with cling film. Place gelatin in cold water and let it bloom for 5-7 minutes.

Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Using a whisk beat until pale. Set aside.

Place the milk and cream in a pot with crushed cardamom pods and bring it to boil over medium heat. As soon as it starts to boil slowly add half of warm milk and cream mixture over the beaten eggs, adding one ladle at a time, while whisking it continuously. Pour it back into the remaining milk-cream mixture and place over low heat. Stirring it constantly cook the mixture until it reaches 80C, and coats the back of the ladle.

Remove gelatin leaves from water and squeeze out to remove excess water. Stir in the gelatin and take the pot off the heat. Strain it through a sieve. Let it cool.

Once cooled (under 20C) use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the whipped, in two parts, until well combined. Pour the mixture in the prepared tray, gently shake to level off and let it set in the fridge for 1 hour.

For saffron gel

Place the gelatin in cold water and let it bloom for 5-7 minutes.

Place water and sugar in a pot and bring it to boil on medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Remove gelatin leaves from water and squeeze out to remove excess water. Stir in the gelatin and take the pot off the heat and add in the saffron. Let it cool down. Once the mixture is cooled down (under 20C) pour it on top of the set cardamom bavarois. Let it set in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.

For salted almond pistachio crumb

Preheat the oven to 150C and line a baking tray with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together flour, almond meal, butter and sugar and crumble between fingertips to form a coarse mixture . Spread the prepared mixture on prepared baking tray and bake it for 10-15 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool down. Once cooled, mix in the chopped almonds and pistachio. Keep it aside

For pistachio paste

Place a pot of water on heat and bring it to boil. Once boiling add in the pistachio and quickly blanch them for 30-45 seconds. Strain it through the sieve and peel off the outside brown skin. You will see deep and dark green pistachio from underneath the brown skin.

Once all the pistachios are cleaned, place them in a hand blender and grind it to form a smooth paste. It will have mossy green color…absolutely lovely!!

For pistachio mousse

For mousse, dissolve the sugar in 1-2 tbsp of water and mix it in the pistachio paste. Add more water if needed, but the mixture should not be too runny.

Using a rubber spatula gently fold in the whipped cream until well combined.

Take a small disposable piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle (or simply snip the end off). Fill the bag with the pistachio mousse and twist the top. Place it in the fridge until ready to plate

For pistachio sponge

For sponge mix together pistachio paste, flour, baking powder and sugar. Add couple of table spoons of water if needed. Gently fold in the whisked egg white. Pour the mixture in a cup or a soufflé container and microwave it on high heat for 1 minute.

Remove it from the microwave and let it cool down.

For almond tuile

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Using a hand whisk, cream butter and sugar. While whisking continuously gradually add the egg white. Add the flour in small batches and stir to get a homogeneous and smooth batter. Don’t overmix it. Finally add freshly crushed black pepper. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up.

Press the rectangular stencil (10cm x 2cm) on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Bake it for about 4-5 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Using the spatula release from the baking sheet and roll it around handle of wooden spoon to get spiral shape.

If you don’t want to use stencil, you can alternatively transfer the batter into a disposable piping bag fitted with small plain tip.

For assembling

Sprinkle salted almond and pistachio crumb across on serving plate. Remove cardamom bavarois with saffron gel from the fridge and cut a rectangular piece (7cmx3cm) and place it in the center of the plate. Pipe the pistachio mousse at few places on the plate. Add almond tuile across the bavarois and scatter few pieces of pistachio sponge on the plate​.

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Welcome to my kitchen.

My name is Rashmi Ahuja Toivanen. I come from the Northern part of India. Over a decade ago, I left India to pursue a career in science. My research work has taken me to laboratories in Germany, United States and Finland. A few years back I moved to Finland with my husband Mikko. We now live in Helsinki with our two little boys.